{"id":3687,"date":"2010-01-26T07:56:33","date_gmt":"2010-01-26T13:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?p=3687"},"modified":"2016-12-16T22:44:37","modified_gmt":"2016-12-17T04:44:37","slug":"beyond-napa-wine-tasting-on-a-california-vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/beyond-napa-wine-tasting-on-a-california-vacation\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Napa: wine-tasting on a California vacation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"California<\/em><\/em>

Arista Winery, Sonoma County (Photo: Sonoma County Tourism Bureau)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Ari Bendersky<\/em><\/p>\n

When people think of California wine country, first thoughts often move toward Napa. The Napa Valley has been on most people’sradars for a few decades, but great wine is produced all over California. Instead of hitting the obvious, next time you plan a California vacation<\/a>, think about visiting one of other spots in Northern California, or checking out wineries in other areas of the state. In this first of three installments, I offer tips for a wine-tasting Northern California vacation outside of Napa.<\/p>\n

If you want to hit some of the American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in Northern California, you can fly into either San Francisco International, San Jose or Oakland airports. You can either head north toward Sonoma, Lake or Mendocino counties or go south to Monterey, Santa Cruz or Paso Robles (details to come in my next installment). I’m breaking California wine country down by county to make it easier to navigate, but know wherever you go, you will find natural beauty, great wine, amazing local food and fun activities.<\/p>\n

Sonoma<\/strong> County<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"California

Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn<\/p><\/div>\n

Travel to Sonoma for your California vacation, where you can bike, eat and drink to your heart’s content. This is one of the larger wine areas and is on par with Napa in breadth, depth and popularity.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of Sonoma hotels<\/a>, inns and B&Bs to choose from, but some I like include, the Sonoma Coast Villa Inn and Spa<\/a>, the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn<\/a>, Timber Cove Inn<\/a> and the Kenwood Inn & Spa<\/a>. All of these Sonoma hotels offer access to many wineries and also have spas on siteso you can relax following a day of wine tasting.<\/p>\n

When it comes to wine tasting, I don’t think a California vacation in Sonoma would be<\/p>\n

\"Gloria

Gloria Ferrer (Photo: Sonoma County Tourism Bureau)<\/p><\/div>\n

complete without visits to the following:<\/p>\n